Should I do a goatee instead of the beard? Hahaha

But on a serious note, Im looking at getting the Sunfire repainted when I get the hood and fender done. Did someone say overkill? Ya I know but the paint is in terrible shape and I know peoples so why not.

My questions. The stock Sunfire bumper has those little reflectors which I hate so how would I go about shaving those? I know I could probably fill them with body filler but I know as soon as I bump into something they crack out.

How about the Pontiac logo on the front bumper? Would I be able to make it go away? Cut it out, plastic bond some pieces in and body filler I presume?

Antenna wont be hard. Is shaving the gas door worth the hassle?

I think thats it for now. Im just rambling.

Goatee for sure.


As far as the reflectors, I would make filler plates to bond in where the reflectors were. If you have a junk bumper to cut up, that'll work fine to salvage some plastic from, or just get yourself a small sheet of abs or urethane - I buy it on ebay for a few bucks.
I would cut the plastic into a filler panel, and if needed, use a heat gun to form it to the bumpers surface curve, then bond it in with epoxy. I like to use Speedgrip Urethane panel bond/structural adhesive, but products like 3m automix and lord fusor will work fine too. Once its epoxied in, use poly-flex (instead of body filler) to fill and level it out. Poly-flex works pretty much just like traditional polyester based fillers, but you need to apply it over BARE heat treated plastic. To head treat, just hit the area with a torch lightly til the finish of the plastic gets hazy. Once you have the poly-flex leveled and blended, just finish up like anything else...prime, block, and finish.

As for the pontiac logo, is that just a glue on emblem that sits in a recessed area? If so, just remove the emblem, sand the area down to bare plastic, heat treat, and fill with poly-flex (assuming that it's a very shallow recess being filled). If itits recessed more than 1/8", I would cut it out, and follow the above steps to fill in with new plastic.

Also, anytime you prime over bare plastic or poly-flex, hit it with some adhesion promotor first so the primer sticks better.

As for the gas door shave, its a pretty quick and painless process. Once you have the filler relocated, just weld in a filler plate, and body work it. The filler relocate shouldn't take much more than an hour (depending where you are relocating too), and the body work should be pretty minimal. Just remember to make your work area bigger than the actual "repair" area, it'll make it much easier when it comes to blocking and blending.

what are your goals for the car? if its not going to be a show car and its your daily drive i say save yourself the hassle of always having to open the trunk to fill your tank and just skip the gas tank relocate.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sndsgood/ https://www.facebook.com/#!/Square1Photography

I want to do the gas tank relocate so bad











~2014 New Z under the knife, same heart different body~
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here is my old thread. there are some decent pics in there for the gas door and running lights. I did it very simular to the way evilution described. We cut up some bumpers and urethane welded one piece to the back of the bumper behind the hole. Then we got another peice the same thickness and size as the hole and put that in there. The only thing I would have done differently is tried something like polyflex instead of using regular filler. My instructor pointed me in the wrong direction on that one. His philosophy was that if it gets hit its cracking either way.I haven't had any problems with the running lights, but it still bothers me that I could have done it better. And as far as the gas door, definilty do it. I love peoples reactions at the gas station. I swear people think I'm a terrorist filling the trunk with gasoline sometimes. lol

Theres no link in your post lemur.

The Pontiac logo looks like it molded into the bumper between the headlights. Ive seen a single Sunfire without it on the SE bumper. I figure its probably some cheap aftermarket replacement bumper but I like the look. Unless GM made them without a badge at some point.

My cars just my daily at this point but selling it so useless. Its worth a whopping $1500. So Im just going to keep it forever more than likely.

My bad dude. http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=46&i=338887&t=329537&p=1. I know the feeling on resale value.

make filler pieces and plastic bonder, with a fiber reinforcment.

I would think if you are gonna do the gas door and antenna, you would want to do handles and trunk lock, otherwise it might not have the shaved look you are wanting ( if you are ), I did all that on the last car sans the gas door, and it wasnt worth it at all and there were a lot of situations I wanted door locks or pop the trunk and the battery be dead or my old alarm would lock the car whenever you shut the door and so I have locked the car up with the keys in it running like four times because of that thing, and it was just a hassle.

So unless your going all out, I wouldn't bother with the gas door, and if you are going all out, it can be a bitch and there are a lot of times its better to have the other stuff. So you should probably do the stuff on the bumper and call it a day, but It would look nice either way for sure but probably not worth it on a DD.


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I would never shave handles and lock. No way. Maybe use some different door handle. I hear Malibus have some nice ones.

TheSundownFire (GME Chat) wrote:I hear Malibus have some nice ones.

This.

I love Js with Malibu handles...I just cut some out on my last junkyard trip.

I need to look more into it. I can imagine its too hard from a mechanical stand point.